2003 Acura RSX

[Nica]

This vehicle belongs to a co-worker. Now, I deemed this vehicle special. So special that I used my very own personal Menzerna products, the ones that I said I would only use for my self. The reason I deemed this vehicle special is because I owned a blue one and driving it brought some good memories.

2003 Acura RSX

Interior Process:

Vinyl:
Prior to dressing the interior I gave the entire vehicle a wipe down with Meg’s APC mixed with water 1:1. Then dressed the entire interior with Optimum Protection Plus.

Carpet:
Meguiars APC used it on the carpet. I scrubbed with a brush then extracted it with my shop-vac.

Leather:
Lexol ph leather cleaner and Lexol leather conditioner.

Exterior Process

Engine bay:
Used P21S Total Auto Wash full strength and dressed with Optimum Protection Plus.

Wash:
I used Meg’s Gold Class with two bucket method with the Zymol Sponge, used Deionized water for the entire job.

Clay:
The vehicle was in rough shape so I used Red Clay Magic, the vehicle had never been clayed before and it felt like sand paper so extra strength clay was required on this one.

Polish

Menzerna 85RD3.02 – Meg’s Polishing pad – 3M Backing Plate – Metabo at 1800rpm

Prepping for wax:
Victoria Light Cleanse applied by foam applicator and removed with Tornado microfiber towel (grey towel)

Wax:
1 – Coat of Victoria Concourse applied by hand and removed with a grey micro fiber towel

Rims/wheel wells/Tires:

For the rims I used Zymol Wheel Cleaner agitated with my Swissol wheel brush. After rims where cleaned I finished them off with Jetseal 109
For the wheel wells I used P21S Total Auto Wash full strength
Tires and wheel wells were finished off with Optimum Tire Shine

Exterior plastic peaces/trim:

I used Back Again

Glass:

Interior glass was cleaned with Stoners with glass Cobra MF.

Exterior glass received Victoria Light Cleanse followed up with a coat of Victoria Concourse.

Observations/comments:

On this vehicle I used a bunch of new products and enjoyed all of them. Some of these products are used exclusively on my vehicles only but felt this vehicle was special, to me at least. Let’s start off with Menzerna 85RD3.02. What can I say that hasn’t been said about Menzerna, it’s a great product and it finishes like a dream, you will see what I mean by the pictures. Next up was the Optimum Protection Plus, it’s a nice product leaves a really nice look in the interior I really like it and it’s much better then Meg’s #40, well at least I think so. The only thing I didn’t like was the smell of the Optimum Protection Plus it but after a wile I couldn’t smell it anymore. Then the Optimum Tire Shine, now this product I have nothing bad to say about it. I enjoyed the way it left the tires with a nice mate look but yet you can still see there is something on the tires, for those that do not like a shiny appearance you will enjoy this product. The vehicle finished off great, had some serious damage that could have benifeted from wet sanding but Menzerna 85RD3.02 took care of everything.

I couldn’t get my regular routine of pictures because it was raining out side when I finished the vehicle but since I have enough lights I my garage I’m going to use those as the after pictures.

1/8

 

[Nica]

Now for pictures:

Tools utilized for the wash

Exterior:

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2/8

 

[Nica]

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Not perfect but much better

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Sun

After:

3M Sun Gun

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3/8

 

[makdaddy626]

Amazing job as always. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Nica]

Interior:

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Whater after entire interior was wiped down

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4/8

 

[Nica]

Before:

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Engine bay:

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5/8

 

[CalgaryDetail]

awsome work as always.. The car looks awsome.. Also hw do you like the zymol spounge? Is it worth looking at?

 

[Gary Sword]

Looks great Carlos. I love your before and after water shot.

 

[Tandis1]

Awesome! :applause:
looking very nice and clean! How long time did you use?

 

[Nica]

What I was up against and the tools chosen for the job:

As you can see the vehicle was in rough shape so what to use on it?

Here is what I thought I might use on the vehicle

And the winner is:

Meg’s polishing pad with 85RD3.02

Some 50/50 pictures:

Hood 50/50

This is just one pass with 85RD3.02, some areas required two passes to get it perfect.

Driver side door

This was the first pass a second pass was required to get it just right.

6/8

 

[Nica]

Trunk

Now for some random reflection shots:

7/8

 

[Nica]

To conclude, this is the only picture I have of the vehicle outside and it’s a very, very sad picture

Just look at the mud, unfortunately my back lane isn’t paved and it’s raining, oh well but it looks great and best of all customer was more then pleased with the finish results.

Hope you enjoy, feed back (good or bad) is always welcome.

Thank you for looking.

8/8

 

[med]

Looks great!! Nice job!!

 

[pirex]

Very nice Carlos!! It came out great! And the interior is sweet! I have not tried optimum protecant inside yet, but I will soon It works good on exterior to! Glad you liked Optimum tire shine, it makes the tires look good. Better then to glossy. The paint came out good, very reflectiv. Menzerna did it again Sick that all the swirls were removed with a polising pad! Then you know menzerna is good!! Thanks for all the pictures, I loved them all! To bad it was raining! Thanks again buddy! Good work as always.

 

[klumzypinoy]

Man nice job!! I always love the multiple pics you take I love those 50/50 shots as well. The end result is fantastic!

 

[gandblah]

I usually just lurk....

and silently admire all the good work displayed on this forum but this piece of work compelled me to break my silence and exclaim WOW!!

That was fantastic work and the level of detail in detailing out your process and pictures just demonstrates the attention to detail that you go to with things. So I can imagine how that philosophy permeates over to actual auto details that you do.

Fantastic work....just goes to show why it's called detail'ing.

 

[Nica]

makdady626 - Thank you for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it.

CalgaryDetail - Thank you buddy, see it was kinda worth me missing our get together on Sunday actually owner was very pleased with the results and sorry I had to re-schedule our get together there but we can set something up again. As for the sponge, not sure yet first time I use it and so far I have nothing bad to say about it but I want to use it on a few more vehicles and then I can give you more feed back.

Gary Sword - Glad you liked it Gary, yea I got wet on one of those pictures but the pictures turned out okay, it would have been better to show it's true colour outside but the garage would have had to do as I didn't want the vehicle getting dirty, it wasen't a prety sight seeing the vehicle role it's shiny tires on to the lane but oh well

Tandis1 - Thank you for the compliment, this vehicle took me about 13hrs. I took my time, I always break a detail down in two days. One day I do all the interior, rims, engine bay, wash and clay and usually call it a night. Then the next day I come in and concentrate on polishing and finish it off with the LSP. I take my time because I am to impress the customer always not only that it has to meet my expectations and turns out that I'm really picky. Besides I enjoy taking my time, feeling every curve, corner of the vehicle and getting it looking better then new. Glad you liked it.

med - Thank you glad you liked it.

pirex - Hey bro, glad you liked it. The Optimum for the interior you will really like, it is a very nice product and like I said I thought I was in heaven with Meg's #40, this stuff blows Meg's away...well to me it does, you wont be disapointed with Optimum Protectant. Yup, Menzerna came through once a gain, I do have to admit the clear coat on this Acura was medium soft. Some areas required two passes but I'm glad I went with this combo for two reasons. One, it saved lots of clear coat and two a cutting foam pad would have left lots of micromarring and would have removed extra clear coat that would have gone to waist...oh and I would have had to go over the vehicle with 106FF to get it perfect. So it's a good combo, by the way the more I use the Meg's foam pads the more I like them. So far I've done a few vehicles with Meg's foam pads now and I'm very pleased.

klumzypinoy - Glad you enjoyed the pictures, I agree the 50/50 pictures turned out great. I was a little worried as I was taking them, I wasen't really sure how they were looking but glad that they worked out. Oh that reminds me I keep forgetting to put the warning about the amount of pictures I post...darn...well I'm guessing memebers know me for over doing the pictures .

 

[Nica]

and silently admire all the good work displayed on this forum but this piece of work compelled me to break my silence and exclaim WOW!!

That was fantastic work and the level of detail in detailing out your process and pictures just demonstrates the attention to detail that you go to with things. So I can imagine how that philosophy permeates over to actual auto details that you do.

Fantastic work....just goes to show why it's called detail'ing.

wow thank you for the kind words, truly means alot to me. Glad you enjoyed the detail and thank you for the kind words...man to bring a silent member to post is a compliment.

 

[mixxer]

sick job and an awesome write up and picture documentation.thanks i enjoyed looking!

 

[supercharged]

Superior job on that Acura!!! Love that detailed engine!!!:righton: